Elf Against the Wall: A Holiday Romantic Comedy (The Wynter Brothers Book 2)

“Someone got laid.”

“It’s better than that.” I sighed happily. “I’m in love. Last night, Anderson helped me put up the decorations I’d brought, then we’d made love all night. Yes, made love, not just hooked up. We even went out for breakfast in the morning and looked at farmhouse floor plans on his phone.”

My cousin’s face fell. “No. You didn’t, Evie.”

“I did, and I’m so glad.” I beamed. “Because he said he loved me. Technically, he said it first.”

“And we’re not concerned about that at all?” Ian winced.

“No, we’re going to run away together after the big reveal.” I twirled happily.

“It’s cloudy outside,” Ian said flatly.

“You don’t even know this man.” Sawyer grabbed me.

“We’re meant to be together. No one understands me like he does. He’s my everything,” I gushed.

Across the room at my parents’ dinner party, Anderson was listening intently as my younger cousins were excitedly talking hockey with him.

“He saved me. He’s got this whole insane presentation that’s going to blow the lid off Braeden. I’ll be free!”

“Yes, but you won’t have to move out, remember?” Sawyer was desperate.

I had my future with Anderson all planned out. “I’m moving out anyway. We’re going to ride off into the sunset and buy a farmhouse.”

Sawyer pressed her hands together. “I feel like this might get you on a true crime podcast, Evie. Don’t you think you want to slow down?”

“I don’t need to. He’s used, like, all the love languages on me.”

“It’s not a bingo card.” Ian pursed his lips.

“Why don’t you wait until Braeden gets his ass kicked out the door then reevaluate how you feel about Anderson?” Sawyer wasn’t giving up.

“I don’t need to reevaluate. Anderson’s my perfect Christmas. He’s my Hallmark romance. He’s my happily ever after.”

He noticed me watching him from across the room and winked at me.

I swooned.

Ian grimaced.

“I just don’t think you should be making life-changing decisions two days before Christmas. This is an emotional time…”

“It’s not a decision. It’s fate,” I explained as I fumbled the USB drive into the port on the back of the dark TV. “Do you guys see the remote for this TV?” I asked, searching around.

“If you don’t find it, I have a remote control app on my phone,” Ian said, patting his pants pockets. “Wait. Shit, where’s my phone? Did you see my phone?”

“Did you leave it upstairs?” I asked.

We traipsed up the steps to search in the small guest room.

Nothing.

“Didn’t you have it in the car when we went to get ice?” I asked.

“Right, yeah, it’s probably in Sawyer’s car.”

“You waiting on your boyfriend to call?” my cousin teased.

Ian shoved Sawyer as we raced down the stairs.

“The director promised I would dance the Nutcracker Prince this season.”

“He can’t keep stringing you along,” Sawyer said as we pushed out the front door. “You’re a much better dancer than that clubfooted loser they keep casting.”

“Right? My lines are so much better than his.”

Sawyer and Ian searched her car as my second cousin pulled up behind them.

“You’re here!” Excited, she wrapped her scarf around her. “I can’t believe I missed the hike. Nat texted me, and I was all, like, I don’t want to hike in the cold. And then I missed it. Oh my god, he’s even bigger in person,” she gasped.

Anderson was walking down the porch steps, motorcycle helmet in hand.

“You’re leaving?”

“There you are.” He leaned in to kiss me dizzy while my second cousin wolf whistled.

“I have to check on something at one of the venues. I’ll be back.” He trailed his fingers in my hair.

“You promise?”

“He’s not a soft trust-fund kid Evie.” My second cousin rolled her eyes. “Your man works for a living. Make sure you come back,” she said to Anderson. “I had a three-hour drive, and I was promised eye candy for my troubles.”

His gray eyes didn’t even flicker.

He kissed me again. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I winced as his motorcycle roared.

Henry was waiting in the foyer when we all trooped inside, glowering at the front door.

“You didn’t say something to him, did you?” Ian snapped at him.

Henry ignored him and turned on his heel.

“We’re not holding dinner for Anderson,” my mom called from the dining room.

“The man’s a hero. Let him have hot food,” her sister said.

“The roast will get dry.”

I sent him a text.

Of course he isn’t going to answer, dummy. He’s riding.

“Evie? The kids are hungry,” Mom said.

“I guess we can eat.”

I called him again and again through dinner, where I sat banished at the kids table, trying to keep my younger cousins from stabbing each other with their forks.

This was the last time the entire family was going to be together until Christmas day. And that would be too late. I was going to be thrown out into the street in thirty-six hours.

It was now or never.

Anderson needed to be here.

The Yorkshire pudding sat like rocks in my stomach.

“Everyone is about to go downstairs to watch hockey,” Ian hissed at me. “Where is he? You need to do the big reveal. Now.”

“I need him here.” I called him again. It went straight to voicemail.

I gulped down the rest of my wine. “Maybe he had a motorcycle accident.”

“Or maybe he is a lying piece of shit like all the other men you are attracted to, Evie.” Sawyer grabbed my shoulder.

“But he did it. He found the evidence to bury Braeden. I don’t believe he’d screw me over. He loves me.” I looked at the TV. “I should go look for him.” I blinked back tears. “That’s what a good girlfriend would do.”

Sawyer shook me. “Snap out of it. Anderson’s hated the Murphys for years. He’s not fucking Santa Claus. He’s a bad man. He’s not crashing through the roof to save you.”

I needed him to come. I needed the happily ever after to my holiday romance.

I refused to believe he wasn’t coming, because if he didn’t come back, that meant there was something wrong with me. That I was really, truly unlovable.